December 2, 2022 | Port-of-Spain, Trinidad | Leonard Pierre, CARU Staff and Inter-American Division News

Community Hospital, a healthcare institution operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Caribbean Union, recently expanded its medical services in Trinidad and Tobago.  The hospital, which first began as clinic in 1948, continues to model the healing ministry of Jesus through an outstanding team of healthcare workers, said Pastor Kern Tobias, president of the Caribbean Union and chairman of the Adventist hospital board recently.

“I know it’s not been easy during the years here, but thank you Community Hospital for providing quality services for so many at the national level and beyond,” said Tobias. “The hospital for many here symbolizes more than just a structure, more than a place to receive medication or another lab result, it represents hope and life to patients, partners, and visitors.”

Community Hospital in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, has been built since 1962. The institution was established in 1948 as a clinic.[Photo: Community Hospital]
The hospital upgraded to 12 new high-tech dialysis chairs to replace its outdated models, due to the growing number of dialysis patients, said Stephen S. Carryl, MD, chief executive officer (CEO) of Community Hospital. Dr. Carryl, was appointed hospital CEO six months ago after serving as chairman of surgery, chief of perioperative services and director of bariatric surgery at Harlem Hospital Center, in New York, United States.

Two and a half years since health fairs halted due to the pandemic, the hospital began offering free health screenings and health education to more than 600 persons in Trinidad in October as part of their strategy to benefit individuals in nearby communities.

Dr. Carryl said the hospital had confronted challenges but it’s working to enhance its facility services not only within the hospital grounds but in the surrounding communities. “We are implementing a new program where we are going to be the first and only hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean to have an inpatient rehab facility,” he said during a constituency meeting.

Stephen S. Carryl, M.D., chief executive officer of Adventist-operated Community Hospital in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad checks up on a patient. [Photo: Community Hospital]
To facilitate the new rehab services, a behavioral health unit has been integrated into the hospital’s wellness services headed by Dr. Joann Williams, said Dr. Carryl. “Every patient that comes to Community Hospital gets a psycho-social evaluation to determine what else is happening in their lives.” There is no other private hospital in Trinidad with such a department, added Dr. Carryl.

In addition, the hospital signed a memorandum of understanding this year with the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC), an Adventist educational institution in Trinidad, and is offering a medical clinic that operates daily on campus. “The clinic is not just for students, but soon will include an urgent care facility that caters to the community,” said Dr. Carryl.

The 45-bed hospital facility opened in 1962 and has occupied a prominent place in health ministry on the island, church leaders said. National leaders at the time paid tribute to the Adventist Church for its commitment to medical ministry and the public with tis critical care specialists. The institution has supplemented the government’s medical services offered at the Port of Spain and San Fernando general hospitals.

More than 600 people from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad received free health screenings and resources during the monthly health fair the Community Hospital reinstated in October, two-and-a-half years since the pandemic hit. [Photo: Community Hospital]
“Sixty years has been quite a journey but with God’s help, [the hospital] will continue to deliver quality care to the community, for we are the best in quality care,” said Dr. Carryl. The Adventist hospital also facilitates support groups available to patients, their families, and the community in Trinidad and Tobago thanks to chaplaincy services.

To learn more about the church’s Community Hospital, visit caribbeanunionadventists.org